Global positioning system (GPS) and other position determining systems are enabled in a wide variety of devices, including mobile phones, taxis, personal navigation devices, and automobiles. The proliferation of such enabled devices has resulted in an enormous amount of historic and real-time data being generated. The type of data generated typically consists of a latitude, a longitude, a unique identifier and, in some cases, metadata.
The assessed location, or “geolocation,” provided by the position determining systems can be used to deliver location-based services to a user. For example, location-based media (LBM) systems deliver multimedia directly to the user of a mobile device dependent upon the device's assessed location. Media sequences can be delivered to, or triggered within, portable wireless devices that are location-enabled (location-aware) and have the capacity to display audiovisual content. Such content is managed and organized externally to the device. The mobile device then downloads formatted content with location-coordinated triggers applied to each media sequence. As the location-aware device enters a geographic area or region, the media sequence assigned to that area is triggered. The assigned media can be designed to be of optimal relevance to the user in the context of the user's immediate surroundings.
FIG. 1 depicts geographic view 100 in the prior art and illustrates an example of the delivery of a location-based service. View 100 comprises geographic areas 102, 104, 106, and 108. Area 102 corresponds to the area occupied by a city's train station. Areas 104 through 108 correspond to various areas surrounding the train station. Persons 112, 114, 116, and 118 are examples of different people presently within the train station area, who are carrying mobile devices. The locations of persons 112 through 118 are known through position determining equipment (PDE) that determines the geolocation of the mobile device carried by each person.
By knowing the geolocation coordinates of each person 112 through 118 and by knowing the boundary coordinates of areas 102 through 108, a system of the prior art is able to infer that the four people are presently at the train station. As a result, location-based services can be provided to all of the people depicted, within the context of the people being presently at the train station.